Milk & King Snakes
Housing your snake
Kings and milks are escape artists. If there is any small (very small) gap or hole, or any "give" to the fitting of the top attached to their tank or between the doors and casement, your snake will escape. Kings, more than any other snake, is known for its tenacity it testing it's environment, looking for a way out. Once out, they are very difficult to find. For this reason, the selection and purchase of a commercial enclosure (or design of a custom enclosure) is just as important as your personal selection of a snake. A tight enclosure is more expensive, whether you buy one or make it yourself, but this is an expense that you cannot skimp on. What is the point of saving some money on an inferior enclosure if, in the end, you lose your snake? Doing it right the first time will save you from some grief down the line.
Enclosure
The enclosure you select must have a tightly fitting, locking, top. Available commercially are a variety of glass enclosures with tops consisting of screen mesh and a hinged glass door which locks into place with a small swing latch. Available now are also locking screen tops which can be put on previously purchased tanks. With either of these enclosures, check the give of the tops before you place your snake inside and walk away. Snakes are, for the lack of a better word, squishy, and can squeeze themselves through impossibly tight spaces. Any gaps due to "give" in the doors or tops can be reduced significantly by fitting aquarium airline tubing all around the opening.
Hatchlings may be housed in a ten gallon enclosures. Medium sized adults may be housed in twenty gallon enclosures, but you might as well get hatchlings and young adults set up in a tank large enough for a full grown one. The longer and larger snakes should be housed in a 60 gallon enclosure. Try to get high-sided enclosures so that you may put in some vertical climbing and above-the-floor basking areas. Milk and king snakes, like all the other snakes in the family Colubridae (typically, non-venomous snakes considered to be more highly evolved than the boas and pythons), have only one functioning lung. Due to the lack of space inside the confines of their rib cage, all organs are elongated and so there is now room for only one working lung. Their left lung is still there, withered to a vestigial stub. Because of this somewhat reduced lung capacity, and the fact that when such snakes cannot stretch fully out on a regular basis, they are prone to respiratory infections. For this reason, it is important to give the snake as much stretching room as possible.
Heat
The Lampropeltis that live in climates that experience extremes in heat and cold alter their daily habits to accommodate such extremes. Hibernating through the cold winters, northern and mountain snakes spend the season dormant. Desert species will hide in cool crevices during the hottest part of the day, becoming crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk). In captivity, the extremes do not need to be provided unless you are trying to breed your snakes. In general, provide a temperature gradient ranging from 76-86 F, with nighttime drops into the low 70's. If you are providing an enclosure with high enough sides to establish basking and hiding areas at different levels within the enclosure, you will need to make sure that gradient is both horizontal as well as vertical. Do not try to guess the temperature. You must use thermometers. Ideally, one should be placed in the cool end, the warm end, and at any other area where the snake spends much of its time. The hottest areas should not exceed the maximum stated range by more than a couple of degrees, especially for snakes from temperate areas.
Humidity and Water
Provide a bowl of water for your snake. This is generally all the humidity they will need. They will often soak in the water, especially prior to a shed. As they often defecate in the water, you much check it daily, cleaning and disinfecting it before placing it back in the tank. One of the problems experienced years ago by herpetoculturists and hobbyists keeping Lampropeltis is that the substrate was kept too damp, causing bacterial, fungal and respiratory infections. Make sure that the substrate remains dry at all times.
Substrate
Until you are certain that your new acquisition has no worms, protozoan infections or mites, start it off on paper towels or butcher paper. Easily changed when soiled, these materials will also enable you to monitor the condition of the feces and to detect the presence of mites.
Once you are sure your snake is parasite-free and healthy, you can continue using these papers, or use one of the following substrates, chosen based on what your type of habitat your king is native to: untinted aspen shavings (cedar and redwood are toxic, and there is some feeling that their relative, the pine, may be toxic as well); Astroturf or outdoor carpeting; number three aquarium gravel (not silica) and clean playground sand, washed and dried before use; mixture of sterile potting soil and sand and/or orchid bark shreds. This latter substrate is what caused early king-keepers such problems--the surface of this type of substrate was too often damp. When using this soil mix, the top several inches should be very dry. Desert vivaria can be outfitted with a clean playground sand.
The real key to substrates is what is appropriate for your species of king or milk, how difficult they are to clean and change, and how likely you are to do what is necessary as often as it is necessary. The more difficult or complicated you make the inside of the enclosure to clean, the less likely a busy person is going to do it. Find that delicate balance between providing as much interest and variety for your snake and what you can reasonably expect to be able to do on an at least weekly basis.
Feeding
Captive born hatchlings are started off on pink mice, and so feeding them is rarely a problem. Wild caught snakes, on the other hand, may have been feeding primarily on lizards or frogs, making it quite a bit more difficult and time consuming to get them switched over to mice. If you are having feeding problems, read the articles on Feeding Troublesome Hatchlings and Feeding Tips for Carnivorous Reptiles. All kings and milks should be fed prekilled prey.
Hatchlings can be started on one-two day old pinkie mice. If frozen mice are used, make sure to defrost thoroughly (leave on counter, under a light, or soaking in warm water). Feed one to two mice every two to seven days, depending upon growth rate desired. Generally speaking, a snake will grow faster being fed several small prey a couple of times a week rather than one big prey once a week. The smaller prey are more digestible than the larger prey, so the snake is getting more nutrition from them.
Subadults can be offered bigger mice one or more times a week. A good rule of thumb is to feed prey that is as big girth-wise as is the widest part of the snake's body. You will find that they are hungrier in the spring and summer, winding down during the fall; many stop feeding altogether during the winter months even though the may still be somewhat active.
Adult size is generally reached within three years at which time the amount and rate of feeding can be reduced. Feed adult mice or just weaned pink rats. At this point, judgment must come into play. You want your snake to be well rounded, with no visible line of backbone or ribs. The amount of food it takes to maintain that weight and appearance varies between species. Start with once a week; if the snake looks too lean, increase to one mouse twice a week. Another rule of thumb: snakes over four feet long need at least two adult mice each week.
Handling
After giving a new snake a couple of days to settle in, you can start handling your snake. Be gentle and persistent, with daily short sessions at first to build trust. At first the snake will probably try to get away, and may even excrete a musky scent from its anal glands (smelly but not harmful). It shouldn't take too long for the snake to get comfortable and settle on your hand/arm. Remember these snakes are constrictors so they may try to wrap themselves around your arm (also not dangerous) - unwrap them from the tail end (their head end tends to be stronger).
Kings and milks are escape artists. If there is any small (very small) gap or hole, or any "give" to the fitting of the top attached to their tank or between the doors and casement, your snake will escape. Kings, more than any other snake, is known for its tenacity it testing it's environment, looking for a way out. Once out, they are very difficult to find. For this reason, the selection and purchase of a commercial enclosure (or design of a custom enclosure) is just as important as your personal selection of a snake. A tight enclosure is more expensive, whether you buy one or make it yourself, but this is an expense that you cannot skimp on. What is the point of saving some money on an inferior enclosure if, in the end, you lose your snake? Doing it right the first time will save you from some grief down the line.
Enclosure
The enclosure you select must have a tightly fitting, locking, top. Available commercially are a variety of glass enclosures with tops consisting of screen mesh and a hinged glass door which locks into place with a small swing latch. Available now are also locking screen tops which can be put on previously purchased tanks. With either of these enclosures, check the give of the tops before you place your snake inside and walk away. Snakes are, for the lack of a better word, squishy, and can squeeze themselves through impossibly tight spaces. Any gaps due to "give" in the doors or tops can be reduced significantly by fitting aquarium airline tubing all around the opening.
Hatchlings may be housed in a ten gallon enclosures. Medium sized adults may be housed in twenty gallon enclosures, but you might as well get hatchlings and young adults set up in a tank large enough for a full grown one. The longer and larger snakes should be housed in a 60 gallon enclosure. Try to get high-sided enclosures so that you may put in some vertical climbing and above-the-floor basking areas. Milk and king snakes, like all the other snakes in the family Colubridae (typically, non-venomous snakes considered to be more highly evolved than the boas and pythons), have only one functioning lung. Due to the lack of space inside the confines of their rib cage, all organs are elongated and so there is now room for only one working lung. Their left lung is still there, withered to a vestigial stub. Because of this somewhat reduced lung capacity, and the fact that when such snakes cannot stretch fully out on a regular basis, they are prone to respiratory infections. For this reason, it is important to give the snake as much stretching room as possible.
Heat
The Lampropeltis that live in climates that experience extremes in heat and cold alter their daily habits to accommodate such extremes. Hibernating through the cold winters, northern and mountain snakes spend the season dormant. Desert species will hide in cool crevices during the hottest part of the day, becoming crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk). In captivity, the extremes do not need to be provided unless you are trying to breed your snakes. In general, provide a temperature gradient ranging from 76-86 F, with nighttime drops into the low 70's. If you are providing an enclosure with high enough sides to establish basking and hiding areas at different levels within the enclosure, you will need to make sure that gradient is both horizontal as well as vertical. Do not try to guess the temperature. You must use thermometers. Ideally, one should be placed in the cool end, the warm end, and at any other area where the snake spends much of its time. The hottest areas should not exceed the maximum stated range by more than a couple of degrees, especially for snakes from temperate areas.
Humidity and Water
Provide a bowl of water for your snake. This is generally all the humidity they will need. They will often soak in the water, especially prior to a shed. As they often defecate in the water, you much check it daily, cleaning and disinfecting it before placing it back in the tank. One of the problems experienced years ago by herpetoculturists and hobbyists keeping Lampropeltis is that the substrate was kept too damp, causing bacterial, fungal and respiratory infections. Make sure that the substrate remains dry at all times.
Substrate
Until you are certain that your new acquisition has no worms, protozoan infections or mites, start it off on paper towels or butcher paper. Easily changed when soiled, these materials will also enable you to monitor the condition of the feces and to detect the presence of mites.
Once you are sure your snake is parasite-free and healthy, you can continue using these papers, or use one of the following substrates, chosen based on what your type of habitat your king is native to: untinted aspen shavings (cedar and redwood are toxic, and there is some feeling that their relative, the pine, may be toxic as well); Astroturf or outdoor carpeting; number three aquarium gravel (not silica) and clean playground sand, washed and dried before use; mixture of sterile potting soil and sand and/or orchid bark shreds. This latter substrate is what caused early king-keepers such problems--the surface of this type of substrate was too often damp. When using this soil mix, the top several inches should be very dry. Desert vivaria can be outfitted with a clean playground sand.
The real key to substrates is what is appropriate for your species of king or milk, how difficult they are to clean and change, and how likely you are to do what is necessary as often as it is necessary. The more difficult or complicated you make the inside of the enclosure to clean, the less likely a busy person is going to do it. Find that delicate balance between providing as much interest and variety for your snake and what you can reasonably expect to be able to do on an at least weekly basis.
Feeding
Captive born hatchlings are started off on pink mice, and so feeding them is rarely a problem. Wild caught snakes, on the other hand, may have been feeding primarily on lizards or frogs, making it quite a bit more difficult and time consuming to get them switched over to mice. If you are having feeding problems, read the articles on Feeding Troublesome Hatchlings and Feeding Tips for Carnivorous Reptiles. All kings and milks should be fed prekilled prey.
Hatchlings can be started on one-two day old pinkie mice. If frozen mice are used, make sure to defrost thoroughly (leave on counter, under a light, or soaking in warm water). Feed one to two mice every two to seven days, depending upon growth rate desired. Generally speaking, a snake will grow faster being fed several small prey a couple of times a week rather than one big prey once a week. The smaller prey are more digestible than the larger prey, so the snake is getting more nutrition from them.
Subadults can be offered bigger mice one or more times a week. A good rule of thumb is to feed prey that is as big girth-wise as is the widest part of the snake's body. You will find that they are hungrier in the spring and summer, winding down during the fall; many stop feeding altogether during the winter months even though the may still be somewhat active.
Adult size is generally reached within three years at which time the amount and rate of feeding can be reduced. Feed adult mice or just weaned pink rats. At this point, judgment must come into play. You want your snake to be well rounded, with no visible line of backbone or ribs. The amount of food it takes to maintain that weight and appearance varies between species. Start with once a week; if the snake looks too lean, increase to one mouse twice a week. Another rule of thumb: snakes over four feet long need at least two adult mice each week.
Handling
After giving a new snake a couple of days to settle in, you can start handling your snake. Be gentle and persistent, with daily short sessions at first to build trust. At first the snake will probably try to get away, and may even excrete a musky scent from its anal glands (smelly but not harmful). It shouldn't take too long for the snake to get comfortable and settle on your hand/arm. Remember these snakes are constrictors so they may try to wrap themselves around your arm (also not dangerous) - unwrap them from the tail end (their head end tends to be stronger).